Event Log: May, An Inauspicious Arrival

[faileas]

Event Log: May, An Inauspicious Arrival

I. Boaltinn (1st - 3rd) Boaltinn comes around again. A handful of Mirrorbound will remember the holiday from last year, but for others, it will be brand new. In both Residential Districts, bonfires burn in central locations through the night, frequented by the residents celebrating another summer come to Aefenglom. Curiously, while last year the bonfires seemed quite segregated by human or Monster, this year, there is more of a noticeable mix at each, and Mirrorbound are invited to join the games and festivities quite happily. Characters are invited to try and jump through the bonfire's flames to burn away any poor relationship experiences, be it romantic or platonic, past or present; to aid them in this, those at the Eastern Bonfire will give those participating rune-etched accessories to protect them from the fire. The city has quite a bit to offer for this holiday: shared rose baths at public bathhouses and pleasure establishments that increase feelings of friendliness and talkativeness, poles draped in ribbons meant to be danced around, wrapping a ribbon around the pole to bring good luck for the summer, food stalls whose offerings are meant to be shared, and fortune-telling set up by Divination students of the Coven, who can tell your day is going to go. To see last year's Boaltinn prompts, you can take a glance right here! Much of it, including the bonfires, baths, and entertainments will be similar this year, so feel free to use those in your top levels.

II. An Unusual Arrival (3rd on) A full year from the arrival of the first group of Mirrorbound, the 1st passes quietly, with no one showing up in the mirror-lined halls of the Looking-Glass House. Dates and times are important in most kinds of magic, and this is strange enough that some Witches of the Coven get together on the night of the 3rd to try a probing ritual, attempting to gather some kind of clues that could be useful in prying out the cottage's secrets. Boaltinn is the best time for such things, when the boundaries are thinner, and magic is stronger. Those who are awake that night at 3 am might notice a pulse of harmless silvery light that spreads like ripples on water throughout the whole city, originating at the Looking-Glass House, but nothing further happens, and the Coven receives no answers. Well, nothing happens in the Looking-Glass House. Before long, the reports start coming in: people are emerging from mirrors, regular old mundane mirrors, all over the city. Anything with a particularly reflective surface could be an entry point for someone from another world! Inhabited homes, businesses closed and locked for the night, pools of still water in fountains or the river, these unorthodox Mirrorbound pop up anywhere and everywhere, causing chaos for the City Guard (folks aren't happy to find strangers in their bathrooms at 3 in the morning) and the Coven both. Out of nowhere, a glint of light catches your eye; your heart thunders in your ears as your body moves on its own, your mind consumed with inspecting the source. Your reflection stares back at you, just as curious from the surface - a mirror, a pool of water, your most trusted sword, something fleeting that your mind can barely remember - then ripples at your touch. If you are one of these unfortunate arrivals, it's likely a rude awakening for you, to find yourself somewhere inconvenient, somewhere other than where you've been. It only makes sense to be confused. Hopefully someone finds you and explains to you what's happened to you. Resident Mirrorbound will hear a message from Miss Nessie shortly after it begins, a call to arms: "Dears, I'm quite sorry to disturb you, but it seems your fellows are arriving elsewhere than the Looking-Glass House this month! We're trying to track them all down for the usual welcome, but we could use a hand or several! If you could just bring them by the Coven, the usual spot, that would be lovely." She'll give her usual orientation and pass out Watches, but no doubt the Mirrorbound will be more helpful in this regard, with so many arriving.

III. The Goblin Market (All Month) Life goes on in Aefenglom, despite the addition of so many new residents. With the City Guard decidedly busy dealing with the sudden flood of break-ins (or, more accurately, break-outs?), the vendors of the Goblin Market find opportunity to set up their stalls more openly than they have since the crack-downs some months ago. They pop up all over the city, but clustered more often in the Residential Districts and the Harbor District, where there are even fewer law enforcement agents out and about to run them off. These sellers, while not as devoid of morals as those major players of the Black Market, still have very few compunctions when it comes to lying, cheating, fencing stolen goods, and misrepresenting their wares to unsuspecting buyers. It's also the place to find those things that are- not quite legal, shall we say. They won't say a word if you don't. If confronted, they are quick to pack up their things and slip away, however; they know this city and its hiding places a lot better than you do. With a brand new batch of what the natives assume are Mirrorbound, many undergoing rapid transformations into their Monster forms, many of the wares on display are potions: supposed cure-alls for aches and itches, calming draughts for the full moon restlessness, some even claim their brews can halt changes entirely! Some concoctions are meant to increase a Witch's magical ability, or decrease it, or provide them a finer control. They offer potions that they say will eliminate the need for a Bond, or temporary Bonding potions of their own that they claim are more pure, stronger, than the ones offered by the Coven. Claims are only claims, though. A few remedies for the pain of changing or some regular temporary Bonding potions can be found here and there, but for every potion that works, there are twenty more that have less than pleasant side effects. A brew that will cause everything you touch to turn to solid gold for up to an hour; a potion that will invert your sense of direction - trying to turn right will make you turn left, trying to go forward will cause you to walk backward; a potion that will remove all traction from your feet, causing you to slide around as if cobblestone are the slickest ice. Worse, some shadier vendors sell things more sinister, including a potion that gives you the appearance of being moderately to heavily infected by the Cwyld. Even if you don't drink any, the vendors are not at all careful where they're sloshing those bottles around, trying to show them off, and they all activate on skin contact.

IV. A Wilde Hunt (7th - 22nd) All Mirrorbound, temporary or not, are likely to feel it. Monsters are always affected by the full moons, but this month, it is more. Stronger. Instincts rise to the surface as the Sisters emerge full and visible in the night sky, and for many Mirrorbound, they are undergoing rapid transformations into whatever type of Monster they are meant to be. Curiously, the natives get along like they usually do, noticing nothing out of the norm, other than the increased agitation and restlessness from Mirrorbound Monsters. Monsters' aggression fades when the Sisters start to wane, but as the new moons approach on the 22nd, Mirrorbound Witches will notice their magical reserves overfilling, and will find themselves stricken with the overwhelming urge to use it, until casting spells, pushing one's magical limits, is almost a compulsion. Those who are not in proper Witch-Monster Bonds will feel it even stronger, with no stabilizing magic to consume (for Monsters) or avenues to expend magic (for Witches) other than casting spells. (For those who are interested, the Coven does offer temporary Bonding potions which can be used to help alleviate the effects somewhat.) The Coven Witches notice the signs, and they take decisive action on the morning of the 6th, the day before the full moons. So many Mirrorbound, likely to be so heavily affected by the lunar cycle this month, many of them coming into new features and abilities at a breakneck pace, only spells danger for the city. They barricade off a massive chunk of Wilde outside Aefenglom, largely free of Cwyld and totally bereft of farms, homes, and Wilder outposts. They invite anyone who feels the effects of the moons too strongly to control to come out for a Hunt. The hunting grounds will be open nightly to anyone who needs to work off restless energy or overflowing magic; all participants will be warned that their safety cannot be guaranteed from others, but they won't be able to harm bystanders out here. The woods are thick, with the river cutting through them, and full of wildlife. There is room to run and chase prey, or room to play with your developing magic. Play cat and mouse with your friends or Bondmates, or stalk a stranger. If playing games isn't your thing, there is something else to hunt out here as well. With the deep Wilde entering into Winter, this patch of land so close to the city is much warmer, and fearsome Shades have emerged to search for prey. These were once living beings, Monsters, Witches, or animals, who have been overtaken by Cwyld infection long ago, leaving them dead but for the infection, white-eyed and seeking out sources of magic to consume and infect. Anything could become a Shade, but the most common out right now are the ferocious remains of bears, wolves, and nomadic Arachne and Turnskins. If not killed, these Shades threaten the people of the Outer City, when they inevitably escape the barricade. Careful to limit your contact, though; anyone infected upon their return to the gates will be escorted straight to the infirmary.

Welcome to May's Fourth Wall event, An Inauspicious Arrival! The comms are now open to comments from all registered users and will be until June 1st. Current players, if you don't want fourth wall characters tagging your posts, just say so in your text. Fourth wall characters can use this post for their own network top-levels, or this post for log top levels. This event is game canon; threads from this fourth wall can be used as application samples later and current players may use these threads for AC. As always, be courteous to each other! Let the mod team know if there are any problems and we will handle things.

As always, please direct your questions to this thread!

Comments

[wolfsclothing]

[The scent from the other is somewhat familiar, but maybe it's because not all of Wei Wuxian's puca traits have settled in that he doesn't think too much of it at the time.

At the very least, being feared isn't something new to him. He has always been used to how Herbivores look at him with fear at times that it was merely just a part of life. Frustrating, but he had long since grown used to it. He has many Herbivore friends though and he has grown to appreciate his appearance.]

Ah..ah Thank you. I don't think I can pay for it though. Do these stalls accept yen? That's all I have. [He ignores the bite comment. He isn't gonna bite anyone.

He does have emergency yen in his shoe. Soggy...emergency yen, but emergency yen nonetheless.] Thank you though. I think I can't really get anything anyways since I believe the vendors mentioned sharing. [And he's not with anyone to share with.]

[weiward]

[he can talk. ...of course he can talk. wei wuxian's immediately a little ashamed for even thinking that. he's been here a few months already, and during that time he's seen plenty of different monsters, mixtures of humans and animals. he sees it in the mirror every morning. he's gotten used to things he's never seen the like of in his own world.

and yet he still reacted in such a dramatic way to a newcomer. he takes a deep breath, and his legs still tremble when he stands up. honestly, he's still afraid. but it's not anything that legoshi should be blamed for. he doesn't want to ostracize someone out of his own fear. if he does, then he's no better than the people who feared and ultimately hated him.]

We're sharing. We'll take it.

[his treat - well, lan wangji's treat. but it's wei wuxian's apology. he glances up at the taller wolf, chancing a smile.]

You don't eat meat at all?

[wolfsclothing]

[The other doesn't seem like they're really comfortable around him and he really isn't sure what to do. They're being hospitable all the same, so he'll do his best to be polite. It reminds him a bit of his time visiting Haru's family.]

Thank you. I really appreciate it.

[The vendor seems more than happy to hand over the food to them even if they still seem puzzled by Legoshi's admittance to not eating meat.]

It's great taboo in my society to eat meat. It's a crime to eat your fellow after all. [And he finds it really quite weird to see meat being served out in the open like it's normal. Stalls like this wouldn't be abnormal in the back alley market, but it definitely would not be a thing you'd see out in the open.] It seems to be legal here though.

[weiward]

Don't mention it. I was a fool and dropped mine. So...you're not a turnskin? And all the animals where you're from are like you?

[his brows lift at that. all the animals of a world, talking, walking upright, wearing clothes. being polite...]

I guess that makes sense. Actually, a deer taught me how to use my watch when I first arrived.

[oh yeah. he wonders what louis is up to these days. wei wuxian pays, steels himself and offers the wolf his half. he actually has a soothing voice. he just needs to focus on that.]

I used to eat meat all the time before I came here. Fish too. But I can't stomach it now.

[wolfsclothing]

Uh...well, I don't know what a turnskin is so... [He can't say if he is or not???] And I don't know what kind of comparison we're making, but I guess it would be yes? Though, I have no idea what kind of animal you are. [The other was still human enough that he can't identify what they were. After all, he hadn't seen a human before until arriving here. Other than the Monsters (which still looked different to what he's used to), there was a lot of humans and it's quite the culture shock. All of it is.]

Oh. The watch. They're a little old fashioned, aren't they? It took me a moment to figure them out, but they seem to function like phones.

[Legoshi doesn't think much of the other mentioning a deer. There's no reason for him to assume Louis was here.

He's careful to take the offering from the other. It's probably obvious that he was used to handling items given to him with certain care as to not accidentally claw someone.]

Eating meat isn't taboo where you're from then. It seems like it isn't taboo here either.

[weiward]

It's a type of monster here. The ones that I know still look human in a lot of places, but they get canine ears or teeth or...tails.

[he glances over curiously, but at least he doesn't actually lean back for a better look at legoshi's.]

Me? I'm a human. And a puca here. I blame my Bonded for that, he likes rabbits so much that I've started turning into one. You don't have humans on your world?

[but speaking of culture shocks - wei wuxian nearly drops his food for a second time.]

Old fashioned?? They're incredible! The way you can talk to someone when they're so far away! And how they can capture a piece of a moment forever! [sorry, he's going to dig his out of his robes now, and subject him to the numerous pictures of lan zhan, of their pets, of wei wuxian himself taking drunken selfies.] I keep wanting to take it apart and see how it works, but I doubt we'd have what it takes to replicate them back home anyway.

[yeah, he's rambling. his fear really must be fading.]

[wolfsclothing]

[It's almost unconscious that his ears and tail flick at the mention of people growing them.]

He-oo-man. [He says the word in a way that's obvious that it's foreign on his tongue.] I don't know what one is, no. Rabbits are just rabbits where I'm from and not a puca. Humans though. That isn't a species I'm familiar with at all. I'm sure I would remember seeing someone like you. [People look..well, weird.]

Ah...Tech is far more advanced where I'm from. I don't have a phone to show though. [He never replaced his phone, to the frustration of Haru.] Phones can be used to call and take photos and videos. You can also search the web with it. [Wei probably has no idea what the web is...] They're quite useful. I don't know much about these, but it sounds like they work similarly. Albeit, perhaps outdated in comparison to what I've had.